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Proposed smog rules would require changes in Minnesota

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is proposing stricter health standards for smog, and Minnesota may have some work to do to meet the new standards.

Smog irritates the lungs, and can lead to asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses. The EPA is proposing to tighten the standards enough that some parts of Minnesota might not meet them -- mainly the Twin Cities, and possibly Rochester and the Brainerd area.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Frank Kohlasch says the state has reduced the pollution that forms smog in recent years.

"We have not had an air-quality alert day for ozone over the past two to three years now," Kohlasch said.

Kohlasch says Minnesota meets the existing standards, but might have to cut more pollution to meet the new ones.

"Primarily it's the metro area would be the most at risk for not being in attainment with the standards," he said. "Rochester and Brainerd may be at risk depending on how low they choose to go with the number."

The bigger problem for Minnesota is fine particulates like soot.

Kohlasch says the federal and state governments will spend the next couple of years figuring out how to reduce smog enough to meet the new standards.

The tighter standards, though costly to implement, will
ultimately save billions in avoided emergency room visits,
premature deaths, and missed work and school days, the EPA said.

"EPA is stepping up to protect Americans from one of the most
persistent and widespread pollutants we face," said agency
administrator Lisa Jackson. "Using the best science to strengthen
these standards is long overdue action that will help millions of
Americans breathe easier and live healthier."

The proposal presents a range for the allowable concentration of
ground-level ozone, the main ingredient in smog, from 60 parts per
billion to 70 parts, as recommended by scientists during the Bush
administration. That's equivalent to a single tennis ball in an
Olympic-sized swimming pool full of tennis balls.

EPA plans to select a specific figure within that range by
August. Counties and states will then have up to 20 years to meet
the new limits, depending on how severely they are out of
compliance. They will have to submit plans for meeting the new
limits by end of 2013 or early 2014.

Former President George W. Bush personally intervened in the
issue after hearing complaints from electric utilities and other
affected industries. His EPA set a standard of 75 parts per
billion, stricter than one adopted in 1997 but not as strict as
what scientist said was needed to protect public health.

Some of those same industries reiterated their opposition
Thursday to a stronger smog standard.

"We probably won't know for a couple of years just what
utilities and other emissions sources will be required to do in
response to a tighter ozone standard," said John Kinsman, a senior
director at the Edison Electric Institute, an industry trade group.
"Utilities already have made substantial reductions in
ozone-related emissions."

Parts of the country that have already spent decades and
millions of dollars fighting smog and are still struggling to meet
existing thresholds questioned what more they could do. They've
already cut pollution from the easier sources, by increasing
monitoring and enforcement and requiring car emissions tests.

"This EPA decision provides the illusion of greater
protectiveness, but with no regard for cost, in terms of dollars or
in terms of the freedoms that Americans are accustomed to," said
Bryan W. Shaw, chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality. Texas, with its heavy industry, is home to Houston, one of
the smoggiest cities in the nation.

Environmentalists endorsed the new plan. "If EPA follows
through, it will mean significantly cleaner air and better health
protection," said Frank O'Donnell, president of the advocacy group
Clean Air Watch.

EPA estimates meeting the new requirements will cost industry
and motorists from $19 billion to as much as $90 billion a year by
2020. The Bush administration had put the cost of meeting its
threshold at $7.6 billion to $8.5 billion a year.

The new regulations would mean more controls on large industrial
facilities, plus regulating smaller facilities and sources. New
federal regulations in the works to improve car and truck fuel
economy and curb global warming pollution at large factories will
also help communities meet any new standards, the EPA said.

But some parts of the country that could be found in violation
of the proposed standards have very few cars and little industry.
In places like these, smog-forming pollution is being blown in from
hundreds of miles away.

Charlene Neish, director of Trego County Economic Development,
moved to the rural county in western Kansas a decade ago from
Phoenix to escape big city problems like traffic and air pollution.
Neish was shocked that her county, which has about nine people per
square mile and virtually no industry, made the list.

In Utah, six more counties would join the three in violation of
the Bush standard.

Cheryl Heying, director of Utah's Division of Air Quality, said
the change will not only require additional reductions in vehicle
and industrial emissions, but a regional focus on other
contributors such as wildfire smoke and offshore shipping.

"That doesn't mean we're just going to point our finger at
everyone else, but if we don't cooperate, we're never going to get
it done," Heying said.